Heating apparatus



July 25, 1950 w, COLEMAN 2,516,369

HEATING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 6, 194'? INVENTOR 8 William C. Co/eman. y W P ATTDRNEYS Patented July 25, 1950 U N S HEATING 'i APPARATUS William 0. Coleman, Wichita, Ka e, as'signo r re lihe ColemanjCompany; Inc, Wichita;-'Kans.,' a corporation of Kansas Application Auguste, 1947, SerialNo. 766,645

4 Claims.

This invention relates to warm air heating ap-- paratus-particularly =for heatingga plurality of rooms or. spaces, of the type illustrated in my copending application, Serial-No..760,875, fi1ed July 14, 1947, the objectof-the present invention bein to provide a common heatingunit for directtive rooms. The roomsland I I may be living and dining rooms connected by a relatively wide doorway l8 through which air may circulate 1y heating one-or more of the spaces'and which I is connected with the other-roomswrspaces through'a distributing chamber directly supplied forced movement ofz-heated air from. the heating.

unit through the heat distributing chamber into the respective spaces to be heated responsiveto predeterminedtemperatures to bemaintained in i said spaces; toprovide forreturn of cooled air.-

from the spaces served-by the'distributing chain her into the space that is directly heated by the heating unit for recirculation; and to provide a simple mechanism for discharging heated air from the distributing chamber'into the spaces to.

be heated. 7

In accomplishing these and other objects oi the invention, I-have-provided improved structure, the preferred form ofa-which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective diagrammatic-view of a commonrtype dwelling having-one or morerooms directly heated by aheating unit and one or more rooms that areseparated'fromthe difreely therebetween. The livingroom l is usually v connected with the hall'lS through a door open ing l9 closed by a door 2 1i.- The room'l2 may constitute'a kitchen that is connected with the dining "room through a door opening 2lthat is normally closed bya door 22. The room 9 is a bathroom and connectswith the hall l3 through a door opening 23 adapted to be closed by a door 24.

Small dwellings' 'cf this character are often heated'by a single-heating unit located in the living room to directly heat the living anddining roomsand to" heat to some extent,"the bedroomsf bathroom andkitchen whenthe doors theretoare i left open.* In many instances the rooms 'not directly heated by the heating "unit are inadequately heated and the rooms receive practically no heat when thed'oorsare closed'to maintain" privacy in the respective rooms."

The present invention contemplates heating unit 25 that is mountedin af'casing'zt in'a' corner" of the room ll" preferably "adjacent-the door The casing-26 may constitute the outer casing of the heating 'unit' or it may be built'int'o the corner to provide a vertical shaft in" which the heating 'unit' is installed. The upper end of the casing'is connectedwith the roomsl and H by grill-covered openings 21 and 2B that'are'located in the walls forming the shaft; The bottom 'of the casing" is provided with similar grill-covered 1 openings 29 so that air from thefioors of the rooms I and [I pass into the casing to be heated v by the heatingunit' and the"heat e d"ai'r'is"disrectly heated rooms. and which are heated in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section onitheline 2'2 -of- Fig. 1;:particular1yillustratingthe heat distributing chamber and fan units for supplying air-to the rooms separatedfrom the-rooms thata-re di-- rectly'heatedby the floor furnace.v

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section throughrone of the fan units.

Referring more in detail to the-drawings: I i:

- a valve 3| which is operated by a' thermostat 32' located on oneof the walls of one of the'rooms or H. When the temperature in that room falls l designates 'a-dwelling having exterior Walls 2, 3, 4 and 5 and various transversepartitionsfi 1,

forming'rooms 1, 8, 9,10, and IZ anda central hall I39 The rooms Bland Ill maybe bedrooms having entrances from the halll3throughdoor-r.

ways I and I5'that are normally closed by..doors l6 and 11 formaintaining privacy in the-.reSpec-..

charged into the'rojomsil The rooms I and l l are thus directly'heated bynatural' circulation of the air around the heatingunit.

A suitable fuel is supplied to the burner" of the heating unit through-a duct 3ll'under control "of below the temperature set by the thermostat, the valve 3] is opened to allow flow of fuel tothe heating unit until the temperature approaches that set by the thermostat when the heating unit is shut down until the'therrnostat again calls for heat .as in the case of conventional thermostatically operated'furnace's; h

When the doors [6, I1," 20,- 22 and 24 are'open some of the warm air may move into the rooms 8, 9, Ill and I2 butthis movement of air is relatively small, particularly in cold weather so that it is diflicult to heat the rooms 8, 9, l6 and I2 that are not directly heated.

As above pointed out, it is the purpose of the present invention to obviate this difficulty by providing an apparatus whereby heated air is discharged directly from the casing of the heat ing unit into a distributing chamber and positively discharged into any one of the separated rooms 8, 9 and H) which require heat to maintain substantially high predetermined temperatures therein.

In carrying out the present invention, the hall [3 is provided with a horizontal transverse partition 33 extending thereacross at a point above the doors and spaced below the ceiling 34 (Fig. 2) to cooperate with the side walls in providing a heat distributing chamber 35. The heat distributing chamber thus formed is connected with the rooms 8, 3 and I through openings 36, 31 and 38 which are preferably located above the doors I6, 24 and II respectively. Located in the openings are air circulating units 39, 40 and 4i respectively. Each unit (see Fig. 3) comprises a casing 42 having open ends to provide an inlet 43 and an outlet 44, the inlet 43 being projected into the heat distributing compartment 35. Located preferably at the outlet end of each casing is a motor 45 having a fan 46 rotatable within the discharge openings of the casings to draw air through the inlets 43 and discharge the air into the room served thereby whenever the motor is energized responsive to a thermostat 41 located in that room as shown in Fig. 2.

In order to close flow through the casing when the fans are not in operation, the inlet end of each casing is provided with a damper 48 mounted on a cross shaft 49 having its ends journalled in suitable bearings 50 and i (Fig. 2) provided in opposite sides of the casing below the horizontal center thereof. The damper 48 is mounted on the shaft below the horizontal diameter thereof so as to provide an upper portion 52 of larger area than the lower portion 53. Each damper, however, is balanced to normally maintain a perpendicular position by a weight 54 that is suitably attached to the lower portion 53 of the damper. Therefore, when the fans are not in operation the dampers normally close flow through the casings, however, when thefans are in operation the movement of air acting on the larger upper areas 52 of the dampers cause the dampers to swing open and remain open while the fans are discharging heated air from the distributing chamber 35.

Heated air is delivered directly into the distributing chamber through a grill-covered opening 56 which is provided in the transverse wall 6 and which connects with the upper end of the heating unit casing.

In order to return the air from the respective rooms to the rooms I and l l, the bottom portion of each door is provided with openings 59 covered by louvers 59 as best shown in Fig. 2. It is thus obvious that when warm air is discharged into the rooms the cooler air is displaced through the louvered openings of the doors into the hall 13 and through the louvered opening of the door 20 into the room 1 for recirculation around the heating unit. The motors of the fan units are controlled by room thermostats 41 installed in the respective rooms 8, 9 and I0.

In order to satisfactorily heat the room [2 when the door 22 is closed, one of the inner walls is provided with an opening 6| in which is installed a fan unit 62 corresponding to the fan units previ ously described and which has the motor thereof controlled by a thermostat 63. Therefore, when the room [2 requires heat, warm air is drawn from the living room I by the fan unit 62 and is returned through the louvered portion near the bottom of the door 22 by way of room II. It is thus obvious that a positive circulation may be maintained from the upper hot zone of the directly heated rooms to the other rooms when the thermostats in those rooms call for heat. The cooled air in each room, having settled to the floor, is forced to flow through the louvered door section and back to the furnace to be reheated.

Operation of the apparatus constructed and assembled as described is as follows:

The main thermostat 32 which controls the fuel supply to the heating unit is set to maintain a predetermined temperature in the living room I, for example, F. Therefore, whenever the temperature in the living room and dining room connected therewith tends to fall below the set temperature, the thermostat starts operation of the heating unit to heat the air in the casing 26 and cause an upward movement of heated air which discharges into the rooms 7 and H and into the distributing chamber through the grill openings 2'5, 28 and 56. A circulation is maintained in the rooms I and H until the temperature in the room 1 reaches the temperature set by the thermostat 32 whereupon the operation of the furnace is suspended until such a time that the temperature falls below that set by the thermostat.

Assuming that it is desired to heat the room [2, the thermostat 63 may be set to a desired temperature so that when the thermostat 63 calls for heat the motor for the fan unit 62 is energized to draw heated air from the ceiling zone of the room I and discharge it into the room I2 for raising the temperature therein, the cool air being displaced through the grill opening in the bottom of the door 22 for return to the heating unit. As warm air is drawn from the room I and the cool air from the room I2 is discharged into the room I, the thermostat 32 again calls for heat and sets the heating unit in operation so as to maintain desired temperature in the rooms I and l I while maintaining the desired temperature in the room (2. As soon as the set temperature is reached in the room I, the thermostat 32 efiects shutting down of the heating unit, however, the fan unit 62 may continue to operate until the temperature in the room l2 has reached the temperature as set by the thermostat 63.

When the temperature in the rooms 8, 9 and in fall below the temperatures set by the thermostats in those rooms, the fan units 39, 43 and 4| are set into operation to discharge heated air from the distributing chamber which is delivered directly thereto through the grill opening 56. Cool air is displaced through the louvered openings of the respective doors through the hall into the floor zone of room I for return to the heating unit.

It is obvious that the thermostats for the respective rooms 8, 9 and Ill may be set at difierent temperatures so that dilferential temperatures may be maintained in any one'of the rooms and when that predetermined temperature is reached the circulating fan for that room is shut down to suspend discharge of heated air into the room. The other fan units may continue to operate until the temperatures in the rooms supplied thereby reach the temperatures set by the thermostats whereupon the units will shut down until such a time that the thermostats again call for heat.

From the foregoing it is obvious that I have provided an apparatus for efficiently heating the separated rooms of small dwellings which have the principal rooms heated directly by a heating unit. It is also obvious that relatively high differential temperatures may be maintained in any of the respective rooms substantially up to the predetermined temperature to be maintained in the rooms 6 and I! which are directly heated by the heating unit which has thermostatic controls and adequate B. t. u. output to replace the heat loss from all the rooms.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A heating apparatus for a dwelling having interconnected principal rooms connected with other rooms through a hall having walls common with said other rooms, doors between the rooms and said hall, louvers in lower portions of said doors, a partition extending horizontally across the hall and cooperating with a ceiling of said hall in forming an air distributing compartment in the hall above said doors, said air distributing compartment having discharge connections opening directly through said common walls into said other rooms, a heating unit having warm air discharge connections into the principal rooms and into said distributing compartment, circulating means in said discharge connections of the air distributing compartment for heated air to said other rooms to be returned when cooled to the principal rooms through the louvers in said doors by way of the hall and lower part of the principal rooms to the heating unit, means responsive to temperature in said other rooms for separately controlling actuation of said circulating means, and means for controlling actuation of the heating unit responsive to temperature in the principal rooms.

2. A heating apparatus for a dwelling having a principal room connected with other rooms through a hall having walls common with said other rooms, doors between the rooms and said hall, a partition extending horizontally across said hall and cooperating with a ceiling for said hall in forming an air distributing compartment above said doors, said air distributing compartment having discharge connections directly through said common walls with said other rooms, a heating unit having outlets into the principal room for heating air and a separate outlet discharging the heated air directly into the principal room and into said air distributing compartment with all of said outlets being interconnected within the heating unit, circulating means in each of said discharge connections for discharging the heated air from the distributing compartment directly into said other rooms for return when cooled to the principal room through said doors by the way of the hall, means for selectively controlling each circulating means for independently regulating temperatures in the respective rooms, and means for closing said discharge connections when the circulating means is not in operation.

3. A heating apparatus for a dwelling having principal rooms connected through a doorway, one of the principal rooms being connected with other rooms through a hall having walls common to said other rooms and the principal rooms, doors in said common walls to connect the hall with said other rooms and one of the principal rooms, a partition extending transversely across the hall at a point above said doors and cooperating with the ceiling of said hall in forming a warm air distributing compartment, said air distributing compartment having discharge connections through said common walls directly into said other rooms, a heating unit in the other of said principal rooms and having inlet and outlet connections with said one principal room and a discharge connection with said other principal room and a discharge connection with the air distributing compartment, and circulating means in said discharge connections between the hall and said other rooms for drawing air through said discharge connection from the heating unit into the air distributing compartment and through the air distributing compartment to said other rooms.

4. A heating apparatus for a dwelling having principal rooms connected through a doorway, one of the principal rooms being connected with other rooms through a hall having walls common to said other rooms and the principal rooms, doors in said common walls to connect the hall with said other rooms and one of the principal rooms, a partition extending transversely across the hall at a point above said doors and cooperating with the ceiling of said hall in forming a warm air distributing compartment, said air distributing compartment having discharge connections through said common walls directly into said other rooms, a heating unit in the other of said principal rooms and having inlet and outlet connections with said one principal room and discharge connections with said other principal room and a discharge connection with the air distributing compartment, circulating means in said discharge connections between the hall and said other rooms for drawing air through the discharge connection from the heating unit into the air distributing compartment and through the air distributing compartment to said other rooms, and automatic dampers in the discharge connections having the circulating means.

WILLIAM C. COLEMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 360,223 Johnson Mar. 29, 1887 1,189,572 Ilg July 4, 1916 2,145,641 Baker Jan. 31, 1939 2,178,268 Riehl Oct. 31, 1939 2,209,324 Davison July 30, 1940 2,338,356 Powers Jan. 4, 1944 

